Sewing welt



Nov. 5, 1957 s. D. BRADLEY 2,811,755

SEWING WELT Filed Sept. 26, 1950 ILE- L .L E- l- KA f- I4 JNVENToR.

'rePHe/v D Bunny 44 7' TOPNEP United States Patent SEWING WELT Stephen "D. Bradley, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Detroit Macoid Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application September 26, 1950, Serial No. 186,869

Claims. (Cl. 20V- 74) This invention relates to a sewing welt, and particularly but not exclusively to a sewing welt especially adapted for use adjacent the joint between separate panels of material. 0ne use for such a sewing welt is to provide an ornamental trim or decorative bead for nishing the interior trim panels of a Vehicle body.

Trim panels covered with various types of materials are used in various interior decorating operations as well as for finishing the interior of vehicle bodies. It is customary in fabricating such panels to provide a backing sheet which may be padded or upholstered and then covered with a exible covering of fabric, sheet plastic, leather or the like. The ornamental as well as the utilitarian uses of such panels frequently require the joining of separate pieces of the covering materials. At the present time, a conventional practice is to join the separate pieces of the covering and then to mask the joining line by use of a separate rigid trim strip, which strip is applied after the covering pieces are joined and mounted on the backing sheet. Such separate rigid trim strips frequently are secured to the panel by metal clips or the like. In many instances, the seam line may be a curved line for which it is desired4 to provide an ornamental bead or trim. Because of the high cost and diiiiculty in bending the rigid trim strips, their use on such curved seam lines is not considered commercially feasible in many instances. It is, therefore, highly desirable to eliminate such special and costly trim, particularly in the interior trim panels for vehicle bodies, by the provision of a suitable flexible or elastic welt which may be secured directly to the trim panels during the fabrication thereof, either in connection with a straight seam line or a curved seam line and which will provide an ornamental bead that will follow the seam line and be held iirmly against the surface of the completed panel.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a welt particularly adapted for use in fabricating trim panels and which may be readily secured to such panels during the assembly thereof.

Another object of this invention is to provide a welt of the above type which is formed of an elastomeric material and which is provided with a decorative bead adapted to be distorted or bent from its normal position as formed so that the bead will be held, by the resilience of the welt, securely against the surface of the panel. The elasticity of the Welt permits the bead to be curved to conform smoothly to a curved seam line.

Another object is to provide a sewing welt of the above type which is provided with a guide ridge or groove that provides a guide line when sewing the welt to the trim panel.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a fragmentary sectional perspective view of a sewing welt embodying the features of the present invention and shown with the arcuate bead in its position as formed and prior to assembly in a trim panel.

Figure 2 isa sectional View showing the sewing welt illustrated in Figure l during the sewing of the same to separate pieces of fabric and a backing sheet to form a trim panel assembly.

Figure 3 is a sectional view showing the sewing welt illustrated in Figures l and 2 in its final assembled position.

Figure 4 is an elevation of a trim panel showing a A sewing welt of the present invention Yutilized at the curved seam joining the separate panels ofy trim materials.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood .that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose ofdescription and not of limitation.

The sewing welt 10 embodying the features of the present invention is shown as it is extruded or otherwise formed in Figure l of the drawing. The same sewing welt is shown in Figure 2 during assembly with two pieces of covering material' 20 and 22 and a relatively s tiif backing sheet30, the welt being distorted from its normal or extruded form, such that it lies essentially in a single plane. Figure 3 shows the same sewing welt in its final assembled 4relation with the covering pieces 20 and 22 secured to the backing sheet 30, in any desired manner such as stapling or by sewing with thread 40.

The sewing welt illustrated in the drawings is formed of ,an elastomeric plastic or other similar resilient material of any desired color, and comprises a liat strip portion 12 and a bead or arcuate portion 14. The welt is so extruded or otherwise formed that the arcuate portion 14 is bent or doubled back over the strip portion 12 in substantial parallelism therewith. Thus, when the welt is straightened,vthe arcuate portion will tend to return to its normal position due to the resilience of the welt forming materials.

Preferably, the underside 16 of the arcuate portion 14 is formed to provide a line contact surface at the free edge 17 thereof to assure intimate contact of the Welt edge with the surface of the covering material 22 in the assembled position of the welt.

The sewing welt at 10 is also provided with a sewing guide ridge 18 for assisting in iinal assembly of the welt with the covering materials and the backing sheet and for providing a recess for receiving the fold of the panel of `covering material 20. The guide ridge 18 facilitates the formation of a smooth regular fold 21 of the panel of covering material 20. f

In manufacture, the sewing welt is preferably formed in continuous strips which may be readily and easily cut to the desired length during the assembly of the trim panel. In addition, the formation of the welt from colored materials permits it to contribute to the ornamental color styling of the trim panel.

While the present welt has been described particularly for use in trim panel assemblies by a sewing or stapling operation, the welt is not particularly limited to this use, but may be used generally for any similar purpose, particularly when it is desired to join separate panels with the formation of a seam line.

When used on a curved seam as shown in Figure 4, the elasticity of the welt is such that at the curved portion A, the bead portion 14 is stretched to conform to the lcurve contour while at the curved portion B the bead portion 14 is compressed. In both instances, the elasticity of the material forming the welt permits the welt to conform smoothly to the seam line.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the sewing welt disclosed above may be readily and easily secured to separate panels of covering materials, simultaneously with the sewing of the panels and the backing sheet to form the completed trim panels. As pointed out above, the welt is formed of elastomeric plastic or similar resilient material and has an arcuate portion extruded or otherwise formed, such that when the welt is assembled in the finished panel, the arcuate portion is distorted from its normal position and is held by its own resilience tightly against the surface of the covering material and in smooth conformity with theseam line. The arcuate portion thus forms a uniform bead for the assembly, particularly when sewed along the guide ridge provided therein for this purpose. When formed of a colored material, it adds to the ornamental appearance of the trim panel.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A trim panel unit comprising first and second panels of material joined along their adjacent edges to each other and to a sewing welt said panels extending in opposite directions from their joined edges and in substantially the same plane; said sewing welt having a iiat strip portion positioned under said tirst panel and an exposed bead portion joined to said at strip portion and overlying said second panel along the joined edges lof said tirst and second panels, said bead portion having a concave under surface facing against said second panel and said bead portion being biased against said second panel so as to force the free edge of said bead portion into pressured contact with said second panel.

2. A trim panel unit as claimed in claim 1 and further characterized in that said sewing welt is provided with a longitudinal sewing guide ridge adjacent the junction between said strip portion and said bead portion.

3. A trim panel unit as claimed in claim 1 and further characterized in that said sewing welt is provided with a longitudinal sewing guide ridge adjacent the junction between said strip portion and said bead portion, said sewing guide ridge also being positioned under said first panel.

4. A trim panel unit comprising a rigid backing sheet and first and second panels of material joined along their adjacent edges to each other and to a sewing welt said panels extending in opposite directions from their joined edges and in substantially the same plane; said sewing welthaving a iiat strip portion positioned under said first panel and an exposed bead portion joined to' said fiat strip portion and overlying said second panel along the joined edges of said first and second panels, said bead portion having a concave under surface facing against said second panel and said bead portion being biased against said second panel so as to force the free edge of said bead portion into pressured contact with said second panel.

5. A trim panel unit as claimed in claim 4 and further characterized in that said sewing welt is provided with a longitudinal sewing guide ridge adjacent the junction between said strip portion and said bead portion.

6. A trim panel unit as claimed in claim 4 and further characterized in that said sewing welt is provided with a longitudinal sewing guide ridge adjacent the junction between said strip portion and said bead portion, said sewing guide ridge also being positioned under said first panel.

7. A trim panel unit comprising first and second panels of material joined along their adjacent edges to each other and to a sewing welt said panels extending in opposite directions from their joined edges and in substantially the same plane; said sewing welt comprising an extruded elastomeric section having a flat strip portion and a bead portion joined thereto along one longitudinal edge with said bead portion overlying said strip portion in the extruded form of said welt, said extruded portion being opened for use until the portions thereof lie in the same plane and being incorporated in said trim panel in said opened position with said strip portion positioned under said first panel and said bead portion overlying said second panel and in pressured contact therewith.

8. A trim panel unit as claimed in claim 7 and further characterized in that the undersurface of said bead portion of said welt is concave transversely.

9. A trim panel unit as claimed in claim 7 and further characterized in that said sewing welt is provided with a longitudinal sewing guide ridge adjacent the junction between said strip portion and said bead portion, said sewing guide ridge also being positioned under said first panel.

10. A trim panel unit as claimed in claim 7 and further characterized in that said sewing welt is provided with a longitudinal sewing guide ridge adjacent the junction between said strip portion and said bead portion.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,936,087 Howard Nov. 21, 1933 1,955,187 Howard Apr. 17, 1934 2,096,008 Schemmel Oct. 19, 1937 2,164,036 Lane .lune 27, 1939 2,290,007 Valentine July 14, 1942 2,349,140 Bolen et al. May 16, 1944 2,378,000 Detrick June 12, 1945 2,379,193 Shields June 26, 1945 2,575,783 Batchelder et al. Nov. 20, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 21,703 Australia Aug. 8, 1930 

